The connection needs a full check indeed. So if someone has some time to spare..., they mostly date from the late 2010's. It also shows that a connection like this is not sustainable, maybe we should rethink it.

Nuclear Test Sites:
* Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region: During World War II, the Ōura Cathedral was damaged by the atomic bomb on August 9, 1945.
* Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: The dropping of an atomic bomb on Nagasaki City caused many casualties to workers and mobilized students.
* Bikini Atoll: The United States detonated 23 nuclear devices between 1946 and 1958 at seven test sites on the reef, inside the atoll, in the air, and underwater.
* Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome): The ruin of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall serves as a memorial to the over 140,000 people who were killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War II.

Wikipedia has the Japanese bombings as a "test" site so it's not my definition. There might be some others in Central Asia that are now in a natural WHS.

Loire Valley The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau is currently enclosed by scaffolding during restoration that started in 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2018. There is an interactive website in English, French, and Spanish detailing the work that is being done.
>This is complete. I went there in May 2019. Magnificent.

Margravial Opera House Interior is undergoing extensive restoration since Oct 2012 (will last at least until Spring 2018
> Re-opened, and I think you should re-visit ;)

Monticello The Rotunda at the University of Virginia is currently covered by scaffolding while it is being restored; this restoration should be completed between April and July 2016.
> Went there in 2018 and there was no scaffolding

Connection: Europa Nostra 7 Most Endangered

Roșia Montană - Roşia Montană Mining Landscape in Transylvania (2013) (Europa Nostra website)

Location for a classic movie: Kathmandu Valley: Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine

https://www.movieloci.com/7760-Up-to-His-Ears

Connection: Damaged by Landslide

Ouro Preto - The Solar Baeta Neves, a historic 19th century mansion, was destroyed by a landslide in January 2022. (Shocking moment huge landslide downs power lines and destroys historic 122 year-old Brazilian mansion in Unesco World Heritage Site city)

These movies are NOT critical or public acclaim:
* selection at Cannes means nothing and it's one of the most pretentious artsy awards in the world; awards should be limited to top prices not e.g. New York Film Critics Circle Awards
* they should really be of HIGH acclaim as stated in the criteria or have a high public rating on IMDB with a least 50,000 votes, maybe 5,000 for movie before 1990 since older classics don't get voted on much. (Don't use rotten tomatoes that "fresh" rating is extremely misleading):

Angkor Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001), Lord Jim (1965) | TR has a 5.8!!
Bam Cultural Landscape The Desert of the Tartars (1976, it won the Italian film prize David di Donatello and was one of the selected Classics at the Cannes film festival)
Brasilia That Man from Rio (with JP Belmondo) (1964), where Brasilia during its construction can be seen.
Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Dr Zhivago (1965, Best Motion Picture at Golden Globe Awards) -> this is a filming location that stands in for Russia, I feel this should be filmed at + representing to count
Dong Phayayen Khao Yai's waterfalls Heo Narok and Haeo Suwat featured in The Beach (2000).
Great Smoky Mountains Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955)
Kilimanjaro National Park The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
Machu Picchu "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" . Herzog/Kinski 1972. On the steps of Huayna Picchu | won some awards but nothing major. Who knew there is a Faro Island Film Festival.
Old Havana Our Man in Havana (1959) -> although it's interesting that this was shot post-revolution with support from Castro
Qinghai Hoh Xil Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004, Best film at Golden Horse Film Festival) mainly won awards in China, not surprised
Rjukan / Notodden The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
Teide National Park This dramatic scenery has been featured in films such as One Million Years B.C. (1966), Clash of the Titans (2010),[22] and Wrath of the Titans (2012). | these movies are all lousy just look at their IMDB rating
Venice and its Lagoon Venice is the location of "Summertime" (1955) with Katherine Hepburn, directed by David Lean | I want to add a better movie in "Don't Look Now"
Wulingyuan Wulingyuan (known as Zhangjiajie in Wiki), many scenic areas have been used as Pandora planet's Hallelujah Mountains in Avatar (2009) | was NOT filmed in Wulingyuan, it only served as an inspiration to Cameron as he saw pictures
Yakushima Princess Mononoke, a 1997 anime epic historical fantasy adventure film ("a landmark in the world of animation") | served as inspiration but seeing that it's animated there was no "filming" done.

Avatar and Yakushima could be part of an "inspirations from WHS".

+Westminster Abbey err The Da Vinci Code?
+Tower of London ... Spider-Man: Far From Home?
(I'm sure someone has better movies in mind)
+Edinburgh - Trainspotting
+Blenheim Palace - Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation but I don't know if it's supposed to be at Blenheim or just used as filming location

We have these in the Hitchcock connection. Should be enough, I think.

One million visitors or more

With 96 entries and seemingly many more that could be added (including various ways to tally visitor #'s), I wonder if the criteria should be altered/strengthened?

For example, serial sites that tally over 1 million, should that count? As shown in this article, the Joseon Royal Tombs (18 clusters) easily surpasses 1 million visitors collectively each year. In fact these clusters alone equal 1.45 million visitors in 2019. But are the tombs actually busy? Not really, therefore the usefulness of this information is limited (hence trivia category). However, reimagining this connection as a guide for planning, that these sites are the busiest on the planet (based on density, size, singular monument, cultural or natural site, and/or serial components) may be more fruitful.

Yeongneung and Nyeongneung Royal Tombs in Yeoju (413,000 visitors)
Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs in Seoul (382,000)
Royal Tombs in Goyang (333,000)
Yungneung and Geolleung Royal Tombs in Hwaseong (327,000)

Changing the Name: Most Visited WHS?

Part of the original criteria included:
- excluding those without entry regulations eg. cities)

Potential updated Criteria
- Different # of visitor requirement for cultural, natural, and serial WHS
- Data collection total visitors per WHS as main data (heavily frequented individual components as add-on info)
- Seasonal information regarding natural sites could be included
- Unrelated site visitor #'s not included. for example "Anne Frank House" is not related to the Amsterdam's inscription on the world heritage list
- How valuable is museum information within an urban centre's inscribed zone?

WHS that may not meet the original criteria (without entry regulations)
- Par force hunting landscape (7.854 million in 2003) *these are essentially public parks, with only one exception
- San Antonio Missions (Alamo: roughly 2 million) *the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is free and access is both on foot or bike, with almost no restrictions
- Great Smoky Mountains (Over 11 million) *The park is free and is traversed by US 441

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park Hosted 1.14 Million Visitors in 2020 - sure the Alamo does get busy, but that is 1 of 6 components included.

I am simply throwing out some ideas, because I think this connection has become kind of meaningless because there really is no criteria besides 1 million. Using a one size fits all approach to WHS that are single buildings, dozens of components, or massive nature reserves does not make much sense. Maybe there is a better way that provides more useful information?

Could it be that this connection hasn't been added yet?

Valdes is on the 200 Argentinian peso banknote.

While I am open to revise this connection, I don't think it is meaningless: what they have in common is that they are all very busy sites well on every tourist's itinerary. Specific points at natural sites have become tourist magnets just like specific buildings. And some numbers are unbelievably high, like Mont Saint-Michel which is just a small place - one million says a lot and I think it is interesting to know.

Happy to dive into it more after I am back from my current travels (mid-March).

Els, can we make suggestions for connections, or would it be too difficult for you to add them while you are travelling? I've been refraining from proposing, thinking you might not have the time.

You can. As long as they don't require much thinking on my part! (I know you can handle that)